So this is a delicately non delicate subject. South Africa has white people (cough and indian/malay/mixed....etc) people but mostly it has black Africans. Makes sense right. White people are the minority one statistic I saw said that 10% of South Africans are white. So inequality inequality inequality. There I said it. However this post isn't just about inequality its about one interesting habit I've noticed here.
May I say one thing I've really enjoyed here is that as a white person I feel included; most everyone opens up to allow me to hang with them, to learn their language, to eat different food...the like. Sure there are differences and I'm still trying to figure out just exactly whether to talk openly or not about those differences, I guess it just depends on the person. I do think its interesting coming from an American perspective to this whole new situation down in SA. So why this whole whitey business? Simply because as one of maybe 3 white people in Cosmo City people really notice that I'm white and will SHOUT it across the street. I've literally had a man driving a car lean his body out the window and yell out 'Mlungu!!!!' which means whitey in zulu while I was at the carts the other day.
It is never very offensive but just weird. People are completely shameless shouting 'mlungu' as I come along or the Sotho word Lekhooa. The black brothers and sisters I'm with are always shaking their heads. The weird thing is that its not too weird. Its like saying 'big gulp eih? well have a good day' Its acknowledged and life moves on. I feel like that's how people talk about things around here though, there is still a lot of pain hanging around because of apartheid but most people speak pretty openly about 'race' which is somewhat refreshing.
*some examples
May I say one thing I've really enjoyed here is that as a white person I feel included; most everyone opens up to allow me to hang with them, to learn their language, to eat different food...the like. Sure there are differences and I'm still trying to figure out just exactly whether to talk openly or not about those differences, I guess it just depends on the person. I do think its interesting coming from an American perspective to this whole new situation down in SA. So why this whole whitey business? Simply because as one of maybe 3 white people in Cosmo City people really notice that I'm white and will SHOUT it across the street. I've literally had a man driving a car lean his body out the window and yell out 'Mlungu!!!!' which means whitey in zulu while I was at the carts the other day.
It is never very offensive but just weird. People are completely shameless shouting 'mlungu' as I come along or the Sotho word Lekhooa. The black brothers and sisters I'm with are always shaking their heads. The weird thing is that its not too weird. Its like saying 'big gulp eih? well have a good day' Its acknowledged and life moves on. I feel like that's how people talk about things around here though, there is still a lot of pain hanging around because of apartheid but most people speak pretty openly about 'race' which is somewhat refreshing.
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